*Several (though not all) of the above sites and descriptions were contributed by Dr. Susan Cramer, at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.
Classroom Management
http://www.middleweb.com/1stDResources.html Excellent teacher guide; help & advice for new teachers; discipline & classroom management; the first days of middle school (for all teachers); advice on job hunting; what to expect your first year of teaching; teacher “workbox”, how to stay balanced, etc.
http://teachers.net/wong/JUN09/ Nine years of article summaries (2000-2009)from Harry & Rosemary Wong, authors of book “The First Days of School”.
http://www.middleweb.com/mw/PartInt/PartIntNewTchr.html Links to tips for parent conferences; “taming the dragon of chaos”; what kids wish teachers knew; challenges middle school teachers face, classroom 101, parents are from Mars, teachers are from Venus, etc.
http://712educators.about.com/od/discipline/Classroom_Discipline_Resources.htm Classroom discipline and management strategies; positive reinforcement, dealing with sensitive issues; behavior modification; handling stress and burnout; grading; 10 characteristics of a quality school; five things to consider before becoming a teacher; lesson plans; reaching all students; warm-ups and reviews; block scheduling; high stakes testing; bullying;
http://www.middleschool.net/MainFeatures/behavior.htm Resource/reference site for lots of links to info on classroom behavior/management; behavioral interventions; positive reinforcement; discipline resources; etc.
Assistive Technology
Amazing video on the use of the technology to aide students with special needs. Short feature on Redwood Elementary in Oakland, CA is very inspiring.
Huge “homebase” website with a multitude of links for integrated curriculum, lesson plans, goal setting; professional development; middle school survival guide; etc.
The sites below were compiled by Brenda Power, Editor, Choice Literacy.
Multimedia Sites Featuring Video and Podcasts
The Screen Actors Guild hosts Storyline Online, chock-full of video read alouds. Well-known actors read children's books, and the videos are optimized to play at almost any bandwidth (even dial-up). I was surprised at the variety of books - there are many current and diverse new titles here: http://www.storylineonline.net/
Teaching students how to preview books is a big part of helping them develop the skills to make appropriate choices. Video book trailers are fairly new on the scene, and an intriguing new addition to the book preview toolkit for teachers. Keith Schoch has posted an excellent round-up of video book trailer resource links for primary through high school grades, as well as suggestions for how to use them: http://bit.ly/76I95V
If you haven't discovered the TED Talks on the web, you are in for a treat. These are inspiring brief lectures from visionaries in almost every public realm. Scott McLeod at his Dangerously Irrelevant blog has compiled a handy guide to the Top 20 TED Talks for School Administrators. This is terrific free professional development on the web for summer renewal: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/05/top20tedtalks.html
We linked to Grammar Girl's fun podcasts of quick grammar tips a couple years ago in the newsletter. Since then, the broadcasts have been enhanced to include print transcripts. Teens and adults alike enjoy these weekly broadcasts, and it's very helpful to have the text available to reinforce the ideas: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
Jim Trelease shares advice on how to read a book you don't want to read in this nine-minute video for reluctant readers of any age. This link also includes a summary of the video for dial-up users: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/tree-book-video.html
Gender-based Literature Sites
There are a wealth of wonderful sites for either gender, and the best are heavy on humor and updated often.
Readergirlz was awarded a "Reading Innovators" Award this year from the National Book Foundation. Designed to help teen girls connect with their favorite authors and other readers, it has lots of fun features like playlists of favorite tunes from writers: http://www.readergirlz.com/
What I like about the The Boy Reader Blog is how authentic the posts are. The blog includes far more than just book suggestions - there are tales of putting books in boys' hands and getting their reactions, back and forth with colleagues about the quality of specific texts, and just a lot of fun, real-world nitty-gritty details of what books hook boys: http://www.theboyreader.blogspot.com/
Children's and Young Adult Literature
While we linked to scores of individual posts in the "kidlitosphere," these are the sites that readers returned to most often. Anneographies by Anne Bustard presents favorite children's book biographies organized by birthday. You can check out the archives to figure out upcoming famous folks you might want to highlight on their birthdates in your classroom with read-alouds and biography book shares: http://annebustard.blogspot.com/
The 5 Great Books Blog is exactly as advertised - posts of five terrific children's books around various themes. It's a fine blog to bookmark for quick and timely collections for book baskets or read alouds: http://5greatbooks.wordpress.com/
This is one of those essays that sticks with you long after you've read it. In The Defiant Ones published in The New Yorker, Daniel Zalewski makes connections between the rise of popular children's books celebrating characters who "revel in clever mischief" and parenting styles which avoid any real discipline of willful children. If you are seeing a rise in your school of children who just won't take "no" for an answer, maybe it's time to rethink some of your read-aloud favorites: http://bit.ly/nIGb7
Kathy Collins compares differentiation in classrooms to holiday meal planning, and realizes the process is all about attitude and heart: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1035.cfm
Is there any teacher on the planet who is better than Debbie Miller at conferring with children? In this blog post from Stenhouse's Quick Tip Tuesdays, Debbie shares some of her favorite open-ended prompts for deeper conversations with students: http://bit.ly/cLNFh4
We talk about "scaffolding" learning, but what does that really mean? Terry Thompson has a practical and helpful take on the difference between scaffolding and rescuing, as well as a quick self-test that might help you slow down and rethink your teaching style. "Are You Scaffolding or Rescuing?" is a provocative article for discussion in a study group or grade-level team meeting: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1073.cfm
If you're looking for a place for students to publish their writing for an authentic audience and get inspired at the same time, the "My Hero" website is a terrific resource. People from all over the world post writing and multimedia creations about their heroes. This nonprofit site also has an extensive resource base for teachers that includes lessons, calendars, and standards connections: http://www.myhero.com/myhero/home.asp
Offbeat and Fun
"How a Poem Happens" is a wonderful blog for teachers who love poetry and want to nurture their own reading habits. Each week a poem is presented, along with an interview with the poet about their creative process. A number of the poems are also about reading and writing, useful on their own for read alouds and discussion in middle or high school classrooms: http://howapoemhappens.blogspot.com/
Haiku reviews of children's, young adult, and adult literature. Obviously pithy and frequently hilarious, I can't help but think assigning haiku book reviews to students might be a fun way to teach the form and value of using a few words to make big points: http://www.emilyreads.com/
Storyboarding
If you are looking to teach storyboards in your classroom, in an art or other subjects, this website really is a great resource to do so.
For Lessons that involve creating a soundtrack, or for music teachers. This site below is an excellent free resource of tons
of free programs that you can download. Especially if students want to create music but do not have the expenses to buy music equipment or software.**
This is a great resource for any teacher that wants to know how to set up a film project for their class. The academic language in here is great. Also good for the ELL learners and learners with severe audio impairments who rely heavily on visuals.
CD Cover Resource
This is a great resource for anyone wanting to teach a cd cover design. For art or even other subjects.
It includes a template either in illustrator format, Photoshop, PDF.
The best part about this website is it has all the different types of inserts, such as inside the cd, outside,
the traybox, and this site even includes a DVD design layout as well!!! Also good for artists such as myself who make music and want an easier way to go about knowing the exact dimensions of a cd without the intense google search online! Cd Design Cover Webstie
Soundcloud
For any music teachers, or other subjects, you can have students instantly listen to your instruction at anytime, including adding widgets and apps on the phone. This is website is a great tool not only for independent bands and producers, but it could be for music teachers. Here is the website below :
Physical Education Resources
Art Resources
21st Century Learners
Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.
Shift Happens – Globalization in the information age http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q
**Classroom 2.0** Live and Interactive Webinars. Learn about Web 2.0 and social/participatory media in education. Free signup.
Horizon Report 2010 on what's on the horizon for educational technology
Bloom's Ditigal Taxonomy
Video-Based Sites
YouTube: www.youtube.comYouTube for Educators: www.youtube.com/edu
Teacher Tube: www.teachertube.com
http://viewpure.com/
Watch YouTube videos without comments, suggestions, or the 'other' things
Science videos and more www.untamedscience.com
Broad Teaching Support Sites
What Works in Educationhttp://www.edutopia.org/
Google for K-12 Education
http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/k12.html
AASL's Best Websites for Teaching and Learning
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/bestlist/bestwebsitestop25.cfm
Lesson Plans: Thinkfinity lesson plans
http://www.teach-nology.com/
Searchasaurus a search engine for young students http://www.badgerlink.net/ then click on Searchasaurus.
Great instructional technology wiki http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/
Ideas and examples of technology rich instruction
Subscribe to Edutopia news -- it's Free!!http://www.edutopia.org/edutopia/enews
Subscribe to Google for Educators newsletter
http://www.google.com/educators/index.html
Science based resource
http://nsdl.org/
http://kidshealth.org
Read some teacher blogs
http://blogs.edweek.org
New media tips from teachers. View video http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-new-media-classroom-tips
Academic Standards
CA Content Standards: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/National Standards for English language arts or math
Geography based learning
Google EarthRead Google Earth In The Science Classroom for some most interesting ideas and features available in Google Earth
Project/Problem Based Learning (PBL)
http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-introduction-video
Essential Questions
Student Voices
WebQuests
Computational Search Engine
http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html
Dramatized Literature Site
http://www.60secondrecap.com/*Several (though not all) of the above sites and descriptions were contributed by Dr. Susan Cramer, at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.
Classroom Management
http://www.middleweb.com/1stDResources.htmlExcellent teacher guide; help & advice for new teachers; discipline & classroom management; the first days of middle school (for all teachers); advice on job hunting; what to expect your first year of teaching; teacher “workbox”, how to stay balanced, etc.
http://teachers.net/wong/JUN09/
Nine years of article summaries (2000-2009)from Harry & Rosemary Wong, authors of book “The First Days of School”.
http://www.middleweb.com/mw/PartInt/PartIntNewTchr.html
Links to tips for parent conferences; “taming the dragon of chaos”; what kids wish teachers knew; challenges middle school teachers face, classroom 101, parents are from Mars, teachers are from Venus, etc.
http://712educators.about.com/od/discipline/Classroom_Discipline_Resources.htm
Classroom discipline and management strategies; positive reinforcement, dealing with sensitive issues; behavior modification; handling stress and burnout; grading; 10 characteristics of a quality school; five things to consider before becoming a teacher; lesson plans; reaching all students; warm-ups and reviews; block scheduling; high stakes testing; bullying;
http://www.adhdsolution.com/7dayclassroomg/?gclid=COHr9-rv1ZsCFSIhDQodzCTUHg
Send for free copy of “Seven days to eliminating disruptive behavior in your classroom”
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/articles/index.pl?read=2911
Free ESL community teachers board with resources, teaching tips, motivation, employment tips; fun stories; teacher training; etc.
http://www.middleschool.net/MainFeatures/behavior.htm
Resource/reference site for lots of links to info on classroom behavior/management; behavioral interventions; positive reinforcement; discipline resources; etc.
http://blogs.scholastic.com/6_8/classroom_management/
“Inside the classroom”; classroom management; tips; routines; visuals; advice & ideas from veteran 21 year teacher Sandra Blair.
http://www.seacrest.org/page.cfm?p=68
Program for improving executive functioning skills (with strategies and supports); integrated curriculum.
Integrated Curriculum
Assistive Technology
Amazing video on the use of the technology to aide students with special needs. Short feature on Redwood Elementary in Oakland, CA is very inspiring.
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr174.shtml
Huge “homebase” website with a multitude of links for integrated curriculum, lesson plans, goal setting; professional development; middle school survival guide; etc.
http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/MiddleSchoolJournal/Articles/March2003/Article1/tabid/145/Default.aspx
Article on an Integrated curriculum using state standards in a high stakes testing environment.
http://atozteacherstuff.com/
Lesson plans; themes for units; tips, articles; discussion forum; printables; subjects; worksheet tools; etc.
http://teachers.net/
http://www.education-world.com/help/guide.shtml
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/
http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/school/middleschool/index.html
http://www.nagc.org/
- National Association for Gifted Children
http://www.caroltomlinson.com/ - the guru of differentiation’s website
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/education/
- National Geographic’s portal for educators…incredible lesson plans
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/di.htm
- another great website page with a host of links about differentiated instruction
http://www.help4teachers.com/samples2.htm - a website that features “layered or tiered instruction” unit
www.abcteach.com-lesson plans, activities-some are restricted for member use only
www.teacher.scholastic.com -special section for new teachers, lesson plans, etc.
www.teachers.net-teacher
articles, chat pages, lesson plans, teacher jobs etc.
www.suelebeau.com/freetools.htm -make free tests/quizzes and worksheets
www.teachnology.com
The sites below were compiled by Brenda Power, Editor, Choice Literacy.
Multimedia Sites Featuring Video and Podcasts
The Screen Actors Guild hosts Storyline Online, chock-full of video read alouds. Well-known actors read children's books, and the videos are optimized to play at almost any bandwidth (even dial-up). I was surprised at the variety of books - there are many current and diverse new titles here:
http://www.storylineonline.net/
The Education Podcast Network has hundreds of free podcasts, helpfully organized by topics and grade levels:
http://www.epnweb.org/index.php?openpod
Teaching students how to preview books is a big part of helping them develop the skills to make appropriate choices. Video book trailers are fairly new on the scene, and an intriguing new addition to the book preview toolkit for teachers. Keith Schoch has posted an excellent round-up of video book trailer resource links for primary through high school grades, as well as suggestions for how to use them:
http://bit.ly/76I95V
If you haven't discovered the TED Talks on the web, you are in for a treat. These are inspiring brief lectures from visionaries in almost every public realm. Scott McLeod at his Dangerously Irrelevant blog has compiled a handy guide to the Top 20 TED Talks for School Administrators. This is terrific free professional development on the web for summer renewal:
http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/05/top20tedtalks.html
We linked to Grammar Girl's fun podcasts of quick grammar tips a couple years ago in the newsletter. Since then, the broadcasts have been enhanced to include print transcripts. Teens and adults alike enjoy these weekly broadcasts, and it's very helpful to have the text available to reinforce the ideas:
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
Jim Trelease shares advice on how to read a book you don't want to read in this nine-minute video for reluctant readers of any age. This link also includes a summary of the video for dial-up users:
http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/tree-book-video.html
Gender-based Literature Sites
There are a wealth of wonderful sites for either gender, and the best are heavy on humor and updated often.
Readergirlz was awarded a "Reading Innovators" Award this year from the National Book Foundation. Designed to help teen girls connect with their favorite authors and other readers, it has lots of fun features like playlists of favorite tunes from writers:
http://www.readergirlz.com/
What I like about the The Boy Reader Blog is how authentic the posts are. The blog includes far more than just book suggestions - there are tales of putting books in boys' hands and getting their reactions, back and forth with colleagues about the quality of specific texts, and just a lot of fun, real-world nitty-gritty details of what books hook boys:
http://www.theboyreader.blogspot.com/
Children's and Young Adult Literature
While we linked to scores of individual posts in the "kidlitosphere," these are the sites that readers returned to most
often. Anneographies by Anne Bustard presents favorite children's book biographies organized by birthday. You can check out the archives to figure out upcoming famous folks you might want to highlight on their birthdates in your classroom with read-alouds and biography book shares:
http://annebustard.blogspot.com/
The 5 Great Books Blog is exactly as advertised - posts of five terrific children's books around various themes. It's a fine blog to bookmark for quick and timely collections for book baskets or read alouds:
http://5greatbooks.wordpress.com/
This is one of those essays that sticks with you long after you've read it. In The Defiant Ones published in The New Yorker, Daniel Zalewski makes connections between the rise of popular children's books celebrating characters who "revel in clever mischief" and parenting styles which avoid any real discipline of willful children. If you are seeing a rise in your school of children who just won't take "no" for an answer, maybe it's time to rethink some of your read-aloud favorites:
http://bit.ly/nIGb7
Differentiating Instruction
The Dare to Differentiate Wiki has an excellent collection of resources for organizing flexible groups and helping students become more independent within them:
http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/Flexible+Grouping
Kathy Collins compares differentiation in classrooms to holiday meal planning, and realizes the process is all about attitude and heart:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1035.cfm
Is there any teacher on the planet who is better than Debbie Miller at conferring with children? In this blog post from Stenhouse's Quick Tip Tuesdays, Debbie shares some of her favorite open-ended prompts for deeper conversations with students:
http://bit.ly/cLNFh4
We talk about "scaffolding" learning, but what does that really mean? Terry Thompson has a practical and helpful take on the difference between scaffolding and rescuing, as well as a quick self-test that might help you slow down and rethink your teaching style. "Are You Scaffolding or Rescuing?" is a provocative article for discussion in a study group or grade-level team meeting:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1073.cfm
Writing Instruction
The National Writing Project has posted 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing culled from their journal archives, with links to the original articles:
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922#/One
If you're looking for a place for students to publish their writing for an authentic audience and get inspired at the same time, the "My Hero" website is a terrific resource. People from all over the world post writing and multimedia creations about their heroes. This nonprofit site also has an extensive resource base for teachers that includes lessons, calendars, and standards connections:
http://www.myhero.com/myhero/home.asp
Offbeat and Fun
"How a Poem Happens" is a wonderful blog for teachers who love poetry and want to nurture their own reading habits. Each week a poem is presented, along with an interview with the poet about their creative process. A number of the poems are also about reading and writing, useful on their own for read alouds and discussion in middle or high school classrooms:
http://howapoemhappens.blogspot.com/
Haiku reviews of children's, young adult, and adult literature. Obviously pithy and frequently hilarious, I can't help but think assigning haiku book reviews to students might be a fun way to teach the form and value of using a few words to make big points:
http://www.emilyreads.com/
Storyboarding
If you are looking to teach storyboards in your classroom, in an art or other subjects, this website really is a great resource to do so.
http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/2010/05/start-of-storyboard-week.html
For Lessons that involve creating a soundtrack, or for music teachers. This site below is an excellent free resource of tons
of free programs that you can download. Especially if students want to create music but do not have the expenses to buy music equipment or software.**
Making Music Blogspot
FILM MAKING TECHNIQUES
This is a great resource for any teacher that wants to know how to set up a film project for their class. The academic language in here is great.Also good for the ELL learners and learners with severe audio impairments who rely heavily on visuals.
CD Cover Resource
This is a great resource for anyone wanting to teach a cd cover design. For art or even other subjects.It includes a template either in illustrator format, Photoshop, PDF.
The best part about this website is it has all the different types of inserts, such as inside the cd, outside,
the traybox, and this site even includes a DVD design layout as well!!!
Also good for artists such as myself who make music and want an easier way to go about knowing the exact dimensions
of a cd without the intense google search online!
Cd Design Cover Webstie
Soundcloud
For any music teachers, or other subjects, you can have students instantly listen to your instruction at anytime, including adding widgets and appson the phone. This is website is a great tool not only for independent bands and producers, but it could be for music teachers.
Here is the website below :
SoundCloud